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| Michael A. Nielsen | |
|---|---|
| Name | Michael A. Nielsen |
| Birth date | 1974 |
| Nationality | Australian-American |
| Occupation | Scientist, writer, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Quantum computing, quantum information, open science, "Reinventing Discovery" |
Michael A. Nielsen is an Australian-American scientist, writer, and entrepreneur known for work in quantum computing, quantum information theory, and public advocacy for open science and collaborative research. He has combined research appointments, popular science authorship, and start‑up leadership across institutions in Australia, the United States, and Europe. His career spans contributions to foundational theory, textbook authorship, policy discussion at venues such as TED, and participation in initiatives associated with arXiv, open access, and experimental platforms.
Born in Australia, he completed undergraduate studies with strong performance in subjects linked to mathematics and physics at Australian universities before pursuing graduate work in the United States. He earned a Ph.D. in physics under advisors connected to research groups at institutions such as Caltech and worked alongside researchers affiliated with IBM, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His early training connected him to communities around quantum mechanics, information theory, and computational approaches promoted by labs at Harvard University and MIT.
He held positions spanning academia and research labs, collaborating with scientists at places including the University of Queensland, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the University of New South Wales. His collaborators included figures associated with Peter Shor, Charles H. Bennett, David DiVincenzo, John Preskill, and researchers linked to IBM Research, Microsoft Research, and the Institute for Quantum Computing. He published in journals such as Physical Review Letters, Nature, and Science Advances, and participated in conferences organized by IEEE, APS, and the American Physical Society.
He co‑authored foundational works on quantum algorithms and quantum process tomography with colleagues from groups connected to Shor's algorithm, Grover's algorithm, and the theory of quantum error correction. His research relates to ideas developed by Claude Shannon and Paul Benioff and builds on frameworks advanced by Richard Feynman and David Deutsch. He contributed to methods for characterizing quantum channels, linking to concepts studied at Bell Labs and in programs run by DARPA and EU projects like Quantum Flagship. His contributions informed experimental platforms at laboratories including NIST, JETNET, and groups operating superconducting qubits and trapped ions.
He is the co‑author of an influential graduate textbook alongside collaborators affiliated with Caltech and MIT, used in courses at institutions like Stanford University and University of Oxford. He wrote the popular book "Reinventing Discovery", which engaged audiences at TED, the Royal Institution, and festivals such as World Science Festival and South by Southwest. His writing connected to debates about open access movements involving arXiv, PLOS, Creative Commons, and publishers such as Elsevier and Springer. He has blogged and published essays in venues tied to The New York Times, Nature, and Wired, and given invited talks at institutions including Harvard, Princeton University, and Yale University.
Nielsen co‑founded and advised projects and start‑ups collaborating with teams from Google, Microsoft, Intel, Rigetti, and incubators such as Y Combinator and Techstars. He served on advisory boards for initiatives aligned with open data, citizen science, and platforms related to GitHub and Mozilla. He engaged with policy communities at OECD, UNESCO, and national funding agencies including NSF and ARC, advocating practices resonant with programs run by Wellcome Trust and Horizon 2020.
His work has been recognized by awards and fellowships associated with organizations like NSF, Australian Research Council, and prizes awarded by societies such as the American Physical Society. He received honors related to science communication from bodies akin to Royal Society events and listings in outlets such as Nature News and Science. He has been elected or appointed to roles in advisory groups connected to Perimeter Institute and panels convened by National Academies.
Category:Quantum information scientists Category:Australian scientists Category:American scientists